Thursday

Enter Carina Maria DeGratia and her trusty mule on the side of a mountain with a broken wheel. Along comes a handsome but decidedly crusty man. Is he a knight in shinning armor? No. He just tells her to get whatever she treasures out of the wagon, then over the side the wagon goes. I completely sympathize with Carina when she gets angry.

The story opens very well, with quite an exciting trip down into the ravine to retrieve at least a change of clothes and her silver. However, the excitement dies down into an intriguing mystery. Carina is befriended by a sleezy lawyer with questionable practices in selling a house which Carina has the rightful deed... or does she?

As she tries to settle into this ribald town, she whines about her lost love Flavio. This man she pines for was unfaithful. (I'm not giving away a plot line here, in fact it should have been introduced much sooner, but too much was happening all at once, I guess.)

The problem is that this young woman is painted as a firebrand with much spirit and life, yet she whines at least twice a day about this Flavio. She dreams about him, too. I got disgusted with it about half way through the novel. I know what I'm talking about because I have lived through this kind of disaster. When a man is unfaithful, then the emotion at the forefront is anger. That takes a long time to work through. Ah, well, different strokes and all that.

The historical aspect is very interesting. You can tell that Kristen did her homework. I have spent some time in gold rush towns (both ghost town and quite lively) and this historical account rings true. The characters have been very well developed. There is nothing two-dimensional about them. They are all quite unique and colorful. They all have their warts, they all have good qualities. It is a good read if you can get past the constant reminder about Flavio.

Kristen Heitzmann is the bestselling author of over a dozen novels, including Freefall, Halos, A Rush of Wings, and the Christy Award winner Secrets. She and her husband, Jim, and their family live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she serves as worship leader in their church. Visit Kristen's Web site at http://www.kristenheitzmann.com/

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